Courtney (she/her/they)

Oh I hated the accelerated reading tests. To prove a point in 5th grade, about how it’s not actually making me want to read because of rewards, since I could read 20 kindergarten level books and get more points than the 2 500+ page books I was reading, and it would take less time.

Also pro tip for anyone who considers it, Battlefield Earth is NOT child appropriate. Or appropriate for anyone to read, honestly. Just skip anything by Hubbard…

Space is REALLY BIG and SUPER EMPTY

There are sections of space called “voids” where there’s almost nothing. Like even LESS nothing than usual.

The largest one we know of is called the Böotes (super)Void. In 200,000,000 light-years, there are around 60 galaxies.

You could duplicate our galaxy around 2,300 times and still not reach from edge to edge.

If we were in the center of the void, we wouldn’t have discovered other galaxies even exist until telescopes got sophisticated, large, and sensitive enough to see the faint and distant galaxies that were closest. Sometime in the late 1960s/early 70s, most likely.

I had a collegiate reading level in 3rd grade.

Most people assumed it was because I was wicked smaht.

It’s because I had no friends and hated life and used books as escapism. And just learned a ton of trivia along the way.

I like to joke that my knowledge base is vast as an ocean, but deep as a puddle, and if you aren’t careful you’ll fall into a sinkhole like astronomy, geology, or lord of the rings lore.

Could also track down the CEO, trap them in their own dwellings, and set them on fire.

That requires slightly more work though